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Mr Bellingham, who is also a renowned professional boxer nicknamed The Ripper, confirmed the cause of all the boiler woes was simply that the white plastic pipe that comes out of the condensate boiler had frozen.

He said all a frozen condensate pipe victim needs to do is choose one of these fast and effective solutions:

Use hot water – not boiling water – heated by a kettle or a microwave and pour it over the end of the pipe where it is frozen using a suitable container such as a watering can.

Hold a hot water bottle or heat wrap around the condensate pipe.

The Boiler Buoy device (Image: Lucy Duval)

He said once the pipe has thawed a householder should re-set the boiler by holding in the re-set button for 10 seconds and wait for the boiler to re-fire.

“This will save some of you the cost of calling a plumber out,” he said. “If you defrost it the boiler will work straight away.

“So there is no need to call plumbers out for a small job like this.”

Mr Bellingham said that if the boiler is still not working, however, home-owners should then call a plumber.

Grant Draper runs a boiler advice website and saw a 516 per cent rise in traffic on March 1 as the freeze kiboshed boilers nationwide.